Socially responsible investors have a new tool to help compare scruples and stock performance

  A Canadian company has announced the creation of a "socially responsible stock index," designed to help Canadians keep tabs on the ethical record of companies they may consider investing in.
  Toronto-based Michael Jantzi Research Associates Inc. (MJRA), reports that it has created the Jantzi Social Index (JSI) in partnership with Dow Jones Indexes, which is responsible for calculation, and State Street Global Advisors (SSgA), which provides quantitative analysis and support.
  According to the company, the main purpose of the JSI will be to track how the application of social criteria affects the stock performance of a range of companies. The index will follow 60 companies that have the kinds of social, ethical and environmental policies that socially responsible investors might be expected to have an interest in. Company president Michael Jantzi said the JSI does not assume that these are the only 60 companies traded in Canada that are bound by socially responsible codes of conduct.
  However, the companies on the index have had to pass broadly-based social and ethical screens. Companies involved in the production of nuclear power, or that derive significant revenues from the manufacture of tobacco products or from weapons-related contracting have been excluded from the index.
  A listing of the 60 companies listed under the JSI is available at www.mjra-jsi.com.